Wednesday, July 9, 2014

#MilkshakeWeek: Dark Chocolate Raspberry Milkshake

I start every day with a raspberry smoothie. I drink raspberry tea. I find ways to incorporate raspberry into everything from meatballs to sugar cookies.

I love raspberries so much, I had them tattooed on my foot.

So I might be just a little biased when I say that this Dark Chocolate Raspberry Milkshake is the best milkshake ever.

Why do I love raspberries so much? I can't say for sure, but I believe my grandmother may have had something to do with it.

The first time my dad saw my raspberry tattoo, he didn't respond like I thought he might. Instead, he said, "Oh, that's really special."

A little surprised, I said, "Really? Why?"

Sitting there in the car together, the day before my wedding, he told me the story about my grandmother and raspberries. He said that the summer before my grandma died, she took great joy in feeding me raspberries and teaching me to say the word. I was barely a toddler, so I have no memories of that time with my grandmother, but I like to think that my love for raspberries began that summer.

Maybe Grandma Jeanie introduced me to chocolate, too. Because if raspberries are my first love, dark chocolate is a close second. I tend to combine these flavors any time I can. This Dark Chocolate Raspberry Milkshake is a combination of these flavors that I have been making for years. It also happens to be very similar to the smoothie I make each morning.

The raspberry flavor comes from both frozen (or fresh, if you have them) raspberries and raspberry jam. (I don't ever use fresh raspberries, because if I have fresh raspberries, I eat them before they can be added to anything.) The jam counters the tartness of the raspberries and enhances their flavor. If you use fresh raspberries, you could probably get away with reducing the amount of jam. The dark chocolate flavor comes from cocoa powder.

Don't tell your tastebuds, but this milkshake actually has some redeeming nutritional qualities – antioxidants and fiber from the raspberries and the cocoa, plus protein and calcium from the milk. It's like a win-win dessert. I hope you think so, too.

I thought it was fitting to photograph it for you using Grandma's fancy ice cream glasses.

My blogging friend, Julie from The Little Kitchen, decided she wanted to devote an entire week to sharing milkshake recipes. Julie and her friend, Lindsay from Love & Olive Oil, decided it would be fun to invite a bunch of other bloggers to share their milkshake recipes. And, thus, #MilkshakeWeek was born.

In addition to some cool giveaways (which can be found here and here), #MilkshakeWeek is also calling attention to The Great American Milk Drive. The Great American Milk Drive is a national campaign to encourage donations of milk to food shelves, so that hungry families can have milk. Did you know that milk is one of the most requested products at food shelves, but it is rarely donated? Your monetary donation will be used by Feeding America to purchase and distribute fluid milk to food shelves in your area. You can also make a donation by texting “MILK” to 27722. As a dairy farmer, I think this campaign is sweeter than any milkshake.